A Tale of Two Cities
This stirring tale of resurrection, renunciation and revolution
is one of Dicken's best and most popular novels.
Superficially it appears the least Dickensian of all his novels. However, George Woodcock points out that, written at a point of crisisin Dicken's life, it was closely linked with past and present matters of deep personal importance to him. As such, this novel becomes the embodiment of Dicken's own passions, fears and forebodings: the revolution which engulfs the characters symbolizes his own psychological revolution, both as man and artist. The three main characters, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette, become projections of Dickens himself. And the title, which contains the whole sweep of the author's vision, suggests the basic dichotomy on which the novel rests: the choice between changing society and changing oneself; the gulf between revolutionary ideals and methods; and the duality in the human heart externalized by the Darney-Carton relationship.
With original illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz')
Charles Dickens Paperback 410 pages
